FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to plating apparatus, and more particularly to a device and method for siphoning liquid from a plated object during the plating process.
In a conventional plating apparatus for plating an object of a metal, a plastic or the like with a film of a metal, the object is sequentially immersed in a plurality of processing vessels while being conveyed by a conveyor, so that the object is subjected to anterior processing, the actual plating, and posterior processing. For example, the plated object is a support member which is for a disc brake, and has a relatively-deep blind hole to receive a guide pin of a caliper member. When the plated object with such a relatively-deep blind hole or chamber is sequentially immersed in a plurality of processing vessels for anterior processing, electroplating, and posterior processing, in such a manner that the open end of the blind hole is located in the top of the object, the processing liquid in the processing vessel enters the blind hole so that liquid mixes with that in the next processing vessel, when the object is immersed into the later vessel. For that reason, the object needs to be turned upside down to drain the processing liquid from the blind hole to prevent the liquid in the hole from mixing with the processing liquid in the next processing vessel when the object is immersed into such vessel. If the mixing were permitted, the processing liquids would prematurely deteriorate. Therefore, the blind hole of the plated object is customarily closed with a rubber plug to prevent such mixing. In that case, however, the processing liquid cannot enter the blind hole to perform anterior processing or the like on the object in the hole in order to plate the interior wall in the hole. This is a problem. Additionally, the rubber plug fitted in the blind hole needs to be removed before the object can be plated. This removal precludes the automation of the plating process, which also presents a problem.